The invention relates generally to pain control and muscle stimulation, and, more particularly, to apparatus and methods for reducing pain and/or retraining muscles.
Pain management is a complex challenge for physicians, other healthcare providers and patients. Many are reluctant to use drugs for pain control, especially with pregnant women because of possible side effects for both the mother and baby.
Labor pain can last for up to 36 hours. Conventional pain medications such as epidural drug injections are usually withheld until the cervix is dilated over 4 cm. Currently, as the cervix dilates from 0-4 cm, women receive either no medication or intravenous medication such as Nisental or Demerol. Even when such medication is used, the patient can still experience significant pain. Moreover, these drugs sedate the patient at a time when the typical mother wants to be with her family and experience the miracle of birth. For these and other reasons, many women prefer to deliver their babies without drugs even in the final stages of labor.
Many non-pharmacologic methods for managing labor pain have been tried including rapid breathing, TENS (transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation) and others. While these methods can be somewhat helpful, labor remains a painful experience for tens of millions of women around the world.
Pain specialists recognize that it is better to initiate early pain management strategies because later intervention is often more difficult. Therefore, initiating TENS therapy before the pain of a uterine contraction is felt by the patient increases TENS efficacy.
The TENS technique has been widely used for labor analgesia for over twenty years. It has also been successfully and safely used for over twenty years to treat constant, chronic pain of the sort caused by injury and disease. For example, it is widely used for back pain and sports injuries.
In the context of treating labor pain, the TENS technique employs a small battery-powered source of high frequency electrical energy applied to the skin of the mother in labor using disposable electrode pads attached to the abdomen. The TENS unit is powered and shut off on demand by an operator (i.e., either the mother, a labor coach such as the father, or an attending health care provider). A perceptive coach or health care provider could watch the output of a standard tocodynamometer (uterine contraction monitor) to predict and make adjustments to the TENS output in response to growing or declining uterine contractions. The mother, thus, receives the benefits of electrical stimulation which rises and falls with the contraction intensity without requiring her involvement in manipulating the TENS unit.
In accordance with an aspect of the invention, an apparatus is disclosed for use in reducing pain experienced by a patient. The apparatus includes a sensor structured to develop a signal indicative of a contraction experienced by the patient, and a stimulator structured to apply stimulation to the patient. In addition, the apparatus includes a control unit in communication with the sensor and the stimulator for automatically adjusting the stimulation applied by the stimulator at least partially in response to the signal developed by the sensor to reduce the pain associated with the contraction.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, an apparatus is disclosed for use in retraining a muscle of a patient. The apparatus includes a stimulator structured to apply stimulation to the muscle of the patient in order to adjust a contraction condition of the muscle. It also includes a sensor structured to develop a signal indicative of the contraction condition of the muscle of the patient. Additionally, the apparatus is provided with a memory storing data representative of a predetermined contraction and relaxation activity for the muscle. Moreover, the apparatus is provided with a control unit in communication with the memory, the sensor and the stimulator for automatically adjusting the stimulation applied by the stimulator in response to the data stored in the memory and the signal developed by the sensor.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, a method is provided for reducing labor pain experienced by a patient. The method includes the steps of positioning a sensor on the patient in a location for developing a signal indicative of a uterine contraction; and coupling a stimulator to the patient in a location to apply electrical stimulation reducing the labor pain. The method also includes the steps of employing the sensor to develop the signal indicative of the uterine contraction; and responding to the signal indicative of the uterine contraction by adjusting the electrical stimulation applied by the stimulator to reduce the labor pain.
In accordance with still another aspect of the invention, a method is disclosed for retraining a muscle of a patient. The method includes the steps of: (a) reading data representative of at least a portion of a predetermined contraction and relaxation activity for the muscle from a memory; and (b) measuring a contraction condition of the muscle of the patient. The method also includes the steps of: (c) comparing at least a portion of the data read from the memory to a signal representative of the contraction condition of the muscle of the patient; and (d) automatically adjusting a stimulation signal applied to the muscle by a stimulator based upon the comparison to adjust the contraction condition of the muscle.
Other features and advantages are inherent in the disclosed apparatus or will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description and its accompanying drawings.